Scuttling out from under a bush was a squirrel; the mammal was holding a nut in its mouth. It paused for a moment, lifting its head and scenting the air before hurrying off again towards a forest. The brown squirrel was trying to stock up as much food as possible for the upcoming winter, hiding its food in between the roots of a small birch tree that probably wouldn’t survive the winter. It was very foolish that it was doing this though; considering it was still late summer and it had all fall to collect food. Its ears were soon filled with the sound of high-pitched barking and frightened by it, the squirrel dropped its nut and quickly climbed up a tree. At the foot of the tree, his front paws pushed against the trunk of the mighty oak was a small blue merle Australian Shepherd with copper and white markings. His eyes were silvery blue and his fluffy tail was curled over his back like an Akita’s. He managed to bark a few more times before his legs started to shake and he fell down onto the ground, landing on his back. The pup frowned as he looked up at the squirrel that was now perched up on a branch, chattering, as if laughing at the pup and mocking him.
He rolled over, getting to his paws and began to trot off to the barn that stood alone in the center of a large field. Living in that old barn was his family lived which consisted of his mama, papa and his seven siblings. Suddenly he paused, crouching down and leaping forward, his front paws crushing a pretty white flower that was sticking out of the tall grass. As he got up, happily barking, something sharp hit his side and he fell over. At that exact moment he knew that his happy time was over and done with. The small pup barked in pain, looking up, expecting to see one of his brothers or sisters for they always bothered and teased him. But instead there was a large brown animal; its ears and tail were small and short, sharp teeth clearly visible. Its muzzle was stained red, probably with blood, and scars were scattered around its body. The creature’s small dark brown eyes watched him carefully. As if the brown animal had had enough of waiting, it suddenly made a loud angry sound and extended a paw. With it, it hit the pup again. The small dog slid across the ground, stopping near the forest’s edge. He struggled to get to his paws to run, but was too weak and just fell over again. The brown animal ran over to the pup, grabbing him in its powerful jaws and dragging him into the gloomy forest. All the while the Australian Shepherd puppy was making pitiful sounds but no one came to his rescue.
Sitting on top of a beaten red barn was a blue merle Australian Shepherd, his tail low to the ground. He let out a howl, but stopped in the middle of it to let out a loud whine instead. The canine stared up at the light blue sky, sighing as the clouds rolled by. He lowered his gaze to watch two rabbits hop around in the field before running into the forest and out of site. Birds flew from the trees, circling above the barn before diving down and landing on another trees. How could everyone be so happy when his son was gone? One of his pups had been missing for over two days now; he was last seen playing in the field near the forest that was a few couple feet from the barn. He didn’t understand how the pup could have gotten away; he had been watching him the whole time… Then he remembered falling asleep for a while. The male dog turned around as a red merle Australian Shepherd joined him on the roof. She looked down at her paws, her eyes closing as she shook her head, “D-Did anyone find him? He was such a kind little pup…” The smaller dog started to cry, closing her eyes even tighter.
“No… I’m so sorry, Tawni. I knew something bad would happen to him soon, he was the runt of the litter and all the pups are much stronger then him now. I asked the other dogs around the area to look for him. No luck yet but let’s not give up.” He said quietly before jumping down onto a wooden crate and then onto the ground. He gently pushed the doors of the barn open, slowly walking inside. Before he entered the barn, he paused and looked up at the sky again. His words were quick and quiet, and to obviously nobody in particular, “Kite, please come back. I love you and I’m sorry.”
